Developing Innovation Competence Profile For Teaching Staff In Higher Education In Uganda

Higher education across the globe is under increasing pressure to prepare students with innovation capacities to address challenges facing humanity in the 21st century and beyond. A call for innovative graduates without first understanding the factors that impede higher education institutions from acting as catalysts of innovation is not judicious. One of the notable factors that has been advanced is the lack of adequate competent teachers to let students develop innovation skills. This paper explores competence domains with their underlying competencies teaching staff require to act competently in the innovation field as well as being able to prepare students with the capability to foster innovation at the place of work. The study employed a mixed research design involving systematic literature search, exploratory survey, and three focus group discussions. The study was conducted in four stages. After stage one, four teacher innovation competence domains and 17 underlying competencies were identified. After the consultation questionnaire and focus group discussions, one competence domain was added to the profile and two competencies considered irrelevant were omitted. The study presents five innovation competence domains (teaching staff as: an innovator, knowledge society developer, networker and collaborator, higher education designer and developer, and entrepreneur) and15 underlying competencies.

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